StartEngine, a leading US based investment crowdfunding platform, has shared some stats regarding 2017 progress.
According to the site, StartEngine saw its user base double in 2017 (without providing explicit numbers). Total crowdfunding volume topped $26 million with 87% of listed campaigns hitting their investment goals. StartEngine is a full stack platform listing securities under the three available exemptions in the US: Reg D, Reg A+ and Reg CF.
StartEngine publishes a monthly “index” of Reg CF issuers. The most recent report came earlier this month. According to their numbers, since Reg CF became available in May of 2016 more than $76 million in aggregate has been raised under this securities exemption. In November alone, another $8 million came in under Reg CF. Overall, StartEngine is the second largest platform in the Reg CF sector and it appears to be catching up to the current leader Wefunder in deal volume.
StartEngine is currently in the midst of a self-crowdfunding round having raised over $2.6 million on a possible raise of $5 million. StartEngine is using Reg A+ to raise the capital. This is a securities exemption that allows an issuer to raise up to $50 million. The offering circular providing all of the details of the company is available here.
During 2017, there were several interesting developments on the StartEngine platform.
First, they created a Secondary Market to provide liquidity in unlisted shares. While still very much in a Beta stage, creating a path for shareholders to sell shares if they desire to exit an investment is the wave of the future.
Second, StartEngine moved into the hot Initial Coin Offering space listed the first Reg CF issuer to list a tokenized security.
StartEngine may expand into REITs too, at some point next year. Their goal is to launch 5,000 offerings over the next five year. It will be interesting to see how the platform evolves over the coming months as all types of capital formation move forward to the digital future.